When LeAnn Rimes appeared at the Miller Lite Oasis on Wednesday night, she was some distance — both in years and in miles — from the proto-Taylor Swift she might've been in the middle to late 1990s.

She wore the time and experience well, kicking enjoyably through a version of John Anderson's "Swingin'" and, before the show could get far, amiably addressing her tabloid-manna woes and turning them into "I Do Now," a meta-country number about how to live with what she's sung and how to sing what she's lived.

Rimes' voice was anything but meta, though: Unlike many a neo-Nashville diva, she didn't push past what any given song needed. On the ballads, she was a grittier Crystal Gayle; on the rockers and two-steppers, she was a younger Loretta Lynn. She certainly wasn't Taylor Swift.

— Jon M. Gilbertson,

Special to the Journal Sentinel

Cody Simpson

Not that it's nice to wish illness on anyone, but Australian teen pop star Cody Simpson's sickness played to his advantage at the BMO Harris Pavilion on Wednesday afternoon. Simpson busted onto the stage, launching into slick choreographed dance moves for "Be The One." (Whether he was actually singing is questionable.) He then took about 5,000 years to dramatically slide off his shades, tilt his head up, smolder and purr out, "Oh. Hey. I'm Cody Simpson."

Yet another pretty boy robot. But when Simpson nursed tea and held back coughs during acoustic performances of "Awake All Night" and Jack Johnson's "Bubble Toes," there emerged a raw, natural charisma that probably made him a strong candidate for a teen idol makeover in the first place. Although it probably wasn't a good idea that he tossed his sweat-soaked, germ-covered towel into the crowd.

The collective yells of thousands of girls blended together for opener Ryan Beatty, sounding like the dying squeal of a massive beast, loud enough to be heard from the south end of the grounds as he launched into big finish "Hey L.A."

— Piet Levy,

plevy@journalsentinel.com

MGMT

Let's face it. MGMT gained a massive following a few years back because of the ultra-catchy psychedelic pop of its debut album, 2008's "Oracular Spectacular."

Then the Brooklyn band veered off into the sounds of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd on its 2010 follow-up, "Congratulations." It was challenging material. The band didn't release any singles from it, and it polarized the fan base.

But the band played heavily from that album on Wednesday night, along with songs few had even heard yet from its due-in-September third album. Although the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse was packed more than an hour before MGMT's show, the crowd seemed casually disinterested for the first 40 minutes into the show. They erupted into a pogo for the hit "Time to Pretend" and "Electric Feel."

The six-piece band did a nice job of re-creating the electro-heavy sounds live, even with singer Andrew VanWyngarden's detached vocals. Oh well, at least there were some trippy graphics to watch.

— Jason Kellner,

Special to the Journal Sentinel

Alex Clare

Fireworks exploded over Lake Michigan during Alex Clare's Wednesday night set at the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage — but the eruptions of color were dimmed by thick fog. And that turned out to be a pretty apt metaphor for Clare's set.

Clare is bursting with talent. He's got soulful grit in his voice and a way with melodic romanticism, and the electronic dance-music touches, while their longevity is questionable, make him relevant in 2013. And Clare possesses a tremendously winning and adventurous personality and a terrific sense of humor, experienced firsthand when he took Tap Milwaukee out on paddleboats earlier in the day and played a couple of songs on acoustic guitar. (See the performances at jsonline.com/summerfest.)

If only he could have brought that brightness to the stage, but song after song, Clare's performance, and that of his supporting band, remained frustratingly dull. At least for "Caroline," with its rattling drum breakout and Clare's vigorous vocals, the fog parted for a spell.

— Piet Levy

The Go-Go's

These are not the happiest times in Go-Go's land.

Longtime Go-Go's bassist Kathy Valentine is go-go-gone, given the ax by her mates this year, and she in turn has filed suit against the other band members. So the peppy girl frivolity that marked the pioneering power pop women is probably a little hard to summon at the moment. Circumstances Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Pavilion didn't exactly help. It was a hazy, cold night, not exactly the perfect circumstances for throwing a vintage Go-Go's beach party. And for further complication the band didn't get a sound check, as Gina Schlock warned the crowd at the outset.

The band members did their best to jump start the giddiness. They opened with "Get Up and Go" and "Vacation," both pretty reliable party starters back around 1982. But it didn't seem to catch. Belinda Carlisle did her best cheerleader impersonation, but these women are in their mid-50s now and schoolgirl craziness is probably a little hard to muster on even a good night.

And this wasn't a good night, or at least an easy one.

— Dave Tianen,

Special to the Journal Sentinel

LEAGUES

LEAGUES' January album "You Belong Here" is one of those rare releases where the moment you hear it, you think you may have stumbled upon something special. But the question going into its Summerfest show late Wednesday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage was if that album was the mark of a strong band on the rise, or of a band that knows how to put production techniques to good use. Turns out it's a bit of both. The jangly, Nashville-based indie rock act (in simple terms, think the Killers' Brandon Flowers leading Spoon) just couldn't match the big-league scope of "Spotlight" and "You Belong Here" as heard on the album. But those songs remain captivating live, thanks largely to Tyler Burkum's perky guitar and the grounded animation of frontman Thad Cockrell. In the beginning, only a few in the crowd were on their feet. By set's end, that number had grown at least fivefold. And the number of fans should keep growing and growing and growing.

— Piet Levy

Tap into more music

Go to jsonline.com/summerfestfor stories about Barenaked Ladies and the Neighbourhood, both performing Thursday.